Internal IT Coming to Terms With the Cloud

The challenge facing nearly every IT organization today is not whether to make use of cloud computing services, but the degree to which they want to manage it. Despite the popular perception that internal IT organizations are threatened by cloud services, a new survey suggests that most of them aspire to manage only about half the cloud services being used by their organization by 2016. Internal IT organizations are clearly being asked to deliver more cloud computing services, and IT organizations are getting fairly comfortable with the idea that they don't need to directly control every service. In fact, a new survey of 131 senior IT executives conducted by 2nd Watch, a provider cloud services and tools for managing Amazon Web Services, found that more than 40 percent of them are already brokering cloud services. Most surprisingly, the biggest consumer of cloud services is not sales and marketing, but rather operations across the rest of the business. This finding suggests that, in terms of mainstream adoption across the enterprise, most CIOs have come to terms with the fact that cloud computing has already descended upon their domain.

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Does Your Organization's Business Units Use Cloud-Based Services?

These days it's almost impossible not to be using cloud computing services on some level. Yes: 93%, No: 7%

Do Business Units Choose, Manage and Fund Cloud Services on Their Own?

Going forward, the number of business units doing it alone in the cloud is expected to decline. Yes: 61%, No: 33%, Don't know: 5.7%

Is the Internal IT Organization Seeing Demand for Cloud Services Delivered by IT?

Internal IT organizations are being asked to rise to the cloud computing challenge. Yes: 71%, No: 24%, Don't know: 5%

What Is the Number One Challenge for Internal IT When Delivering Cloud Services?

A lot of issues are hindering cloud adoption, but a dearth of personnel and financial resources is rising to the top. Lack of human and budget resources: 22%, Uncertainty about level of security and compliance: 16%, Lack of corporate standards for governing and managing cloud deployments: 12%, Readiness of organizations to embrace cloud services: 11%, Other: 28%, Don't know: 9%

Demand for Cloud Services From Business Units

On a scale of one to five, about half of organizations rate demand at four or higher. Five: 19%, Four: 33%, Three: 29%, Two: 11%, One or Less: 8%, Don't know: 1%

Does the Internal IT Organization Provide or Manage Cloud Services?

Reliance on internal IT to manage cloud services is much higher than most people realize. Yes: 75%, No: 24%, Don't know: 2%

What Percentage of Demand for Cloud Services Is Being Satisfied by Internal IT?

Over half say they are satisfying at least 50 percent of the demand created by business units. 75 to 100 percent: 37%, 50 to 75 percent: 18%, 25 to 50 percent: 15%, One to 25%: 19%, None: 3%, Don't know: 8%

Does Internal IT Intend to Develop Cloud Brokering Capabilities?

While interest is high, building a cloud brokering capability is easier said than done. Yes: 43%, No: 40%, Don't know: 17%

Percentage of Cloud Services Demand to Be Met by Internal IT by 2016

The ratio of cloud services delivered by internal IT isn't expected to increase all that much. 75 to 100 percent: 42%, 50 to 75 percent: 13%, 25 to 50 percent: 14%, Zero to 25 percent: 11%, No current plans: 14%, Don't know: 7%

Percentage of Cloud Services That Internal IT Would Like to Be Delivering by 2016

Internal IT doesn’t appear to be in a rush to manage everything in the cloud., 75 to 100 percent: 48%, 50 to 75 percent: 9%, 25 to 50 percent: 13%., Zero to 25 percent: 7%, No plan currently: 12%, Don't know: 11%

Departments Most Consuming Cloud Services

Surprisingly, sales and marketing are not at the top of the users list. Operations: 52%, Marketing: 13%, Sales: 10%, Human resources: 6%, Finance: 2%, Other: 18%